NICCOLÒ V, POPE. — Tommaso Parentucelli, born at Sarzana on 15 November 1397, died at Rome on 24 March 1455. In the service, at Bologna, of Bishop N. Albergati, he accompanied him on missions abroad, to Rome, and to Florence; after Albergati’s death, Eugenio IV, then at Florence, made him vice-chamberlain and, on 22 November 1444, Bishop of Bologna, where, since the city was in revolt, he was unable to take possession of his see. Sent twice by the Pope to Germany, on his return from the second mission, in December 1446, he received the purple as a reward for having reconciled the League of Elector Princes with the Pope. In the Conclave, after Pope Eugenio’s death, he was unexpectedly elected on the third day by the 24 cardinals present, on account of the gentleness of his character, his exemplary life, and his diplomatic experience; grateful to his protector, he took the name Niccolò.
During his brief pontificate, he concerned himself above all with extinguishing the remnants of the schism, already greatly diminished, with maintaining peace, especially in the Papal States, and finally with coming to the aid of Constantinople. By means of concessions, he obtained the resignation of the antipope of Basel, Felice V (7 April 1449), at the Council then taking refuge in Lausanne, and the last fathers dissolved the Council on the 25th. As early as 19 January 1449, N. V had ordered the Jubilee to be proclaimed for Christmas, and it met with great success; during that year N. V canonized s. Bernardino da Siena, so popular in Italy (d. in 1445); the year was marred by the plague, which raged during the summer. He promoted the reform of ecclesiastical life, especially in Germany through visits by Cardinal Cusano and s. Giovanni da Capistrano. He maintained peace in his State by removing the condottieri, especially Sforza, by buying back Jesi, confirming many lords as vicars, granting pardons to the Savelli, the Orsini, and the Colonna, and granting broad autonomy to Bologna and Rome; he paid the debts of his predecessor. On 16 March 1452 he crowned Federico III of Austria Roman emperor. A painful episode for N. V was the conspiracy of Stefano Porcari, whom he had already so generously pardoned; he was wounded by the regret expressed by the humanists at Porcari’s execution. N. V sought to aid Constantinople, but the failure to reunite the two Churches, together with the Italian and European wars, rendered all his efforts fruitless. After the city fell, he sought, at a congress in Rome, to pacify Italy, but in vain. During the last two years, his activity was greatly diminished by the gout that brought about his death in 1455; he is buried in the Vatican Grottoes. N. V was the initiator of papal patronage of letters and the arts; at his death he left 807 Latin codices collected throughout Europe; he planned the renewal of the Leonine City and its fortification against Rome’s frequent revolts; the rebuilding of S. Pietro in accordance with the new artistic tendencies; in the city he restored roads, aqueducts, and monuments; death interrupted almost all these grand projects. — Vedi tav. CXVI.